Libya says FBI team heading to Benghazi

Libyan authorities have approved an FBI visit to Benghazi following a deadly attack on the US mission there, but details of cooperation still need to be ironed out, a senior official said Tuesday.

Tuesday, October 02, 2012

Libyan authorities have approved an FBI visit to Benghazi following a deadly attack on the US mission there, but details of cooperation still need to be ironed out, a senior official said Tuesday."We are getting ready for the FBI team to go to Benghazi and meet with our team, start joint investigations... and visit the place where it happened,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdel Aziz."The FBI team is now in Tripoli. There are others who will come maybe tomorrow to join the team. Until now, there has been no visit by the team to the site,” added Abdel Aziz in reference to the crime scene.The remarks come after a meeting with US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Elizabeth Jones, who made a flash-visit to the Libyan capital and met with supreme court and government officials.Libyan and US officials are still ironing out the details of joint investigations into the September 11 attack that killed four Americans, including US ambassador Chris Stevens, he said."Hopefully in the coming two days we will reach an agreement as to how the (US) team will work with the Libyan team,” Abdel Aziz added, saying that the decision rested first and foremost with the prosecutor general."We are now in the context of written permission,” he explained."All of us, the prosecutor general, the ministry of justice, the (ruling) General National Congress, we are all... ready to cooperate, he said."It is the right of the United States to be involved, exchange information and investigate what happened in Benghazi” he added.President Barack Obama’s administration has offered varied explanations as to who may have been behind the attack, drawing criticism from Republican opponents weeks before a US presidential election.On Monday, US State Department officials rejected calls for US ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice to resign; amid charges she misled Americans over the assault on the US mission in Libya.AFP